History Main / ShockValueRelationship

* Paul Kinsey of ''Series/MadMen'' dated a black woman in Season 2 basically for the shock value/to indicate how "forward-thinking" and "artistic" he was. She eventually sees right through him and kicks him to the curb.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'', Mei (who is 13) and Tomoya (who is around 17, not to mention a {{delinquent}}) pretend to go out and actually do go out on a pretend date together all with the hope of shocking Sunohara into expressing [[BigBrotherInstinct care for and protectiveness towards his sister]]. It doesn't work and he waves the whole thing off, to Tomoya's fury. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it's revealed that the reason why he didn't worry was that he trusted Tomoya enough that he thought he would take care of her.]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}''. Poor, poor Leslie. Robin does eventually [[ThrowTheDogABone kiss her]], however. Eventually they become girlfriends for realz.

* Paul Kinsey of ''MadMen'' dated a black woman in Season 2 basically for the shock value/to indicate how "forward-thinking" and "artistic" he was. She eventually sees right through him and kicks him to the curb.

* Phat and Vivisector from [[MarvelComics Marvel's]] ''X-Statix'' comic pretend to be gay to steal the media spotlight back from their teammates. Phat breaks with the ruse, and eventually [[spoiler:he and Vivisector conclude that they are both gay, but not attracted to each other]].

* Played with in ''BostonLegal'' - [[spoiler: it turned out that they were still seeing each other, and had ''faked the break-up'' and an ensuing court case to maintain the publicity]].

* In ''{{Degrassi}},'' Claire invited Eli over for dinner with her parents just as a way of shocking them with his black clothes, hearse, and chain necklaces to get back at them for getting a divorce. Eli was completely humiliated that she used him like that.

* In ''{{Clannad}}'', Mei (who is 13) and Tomoya (who is around 17, not to mention a {{delinquent}}) pretend to go out and actually do go out on a pretend date together all with the hope of shocking Sunohara into expressing [[BigBrotherInstinct care for and protectiveness towards his sister]]. It doesn't work and he waves the whole thing off, to Tomoya's fury. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it's revealed that the reason why he didn't worry was that he trusted Tomoya enough that he thought he would take care of her.]]

OperationJealousy is a {{subtrope}}.

* On ''MyWifeAndKids'', Claire breaks up with her Christian abstinence-practicing boyfriend, who her father approves of, for a gang banger who goes by "1040 EZ".

* Attempted in the pilot of ''ArrestedDevelopment''. Maeby was upset that she barely ever sees the rest of her family. She decided that a good way to get back at her parents was to pretend to make out with her cousin George Michael, and then pretend she had no idea they were related. This backfired on her in two ways. One, her parents didn't even notice her kissing her cousin. Two, George Michael ended really enjoying the kiss, and spent much of the rest of the show trying to deal with [[KissingCousins being attracted to his cousin]].

->''I'm dating Dylan, a woman who volunteers at the Coalition For Gay, Lesbian And Bi Rights For The Homeless. Sure, I'm not really a lesbian, but showing up at Take Back The Night with Dylan captured a lot of attention. When I was in the bathroom stall the other day, I heard two girls I didn't even know talking about me. See, this feminism stuff works.''
->-- '''Megan Heller''', ''TheOnion''

* The ''MoralOrel'' episode "Closeface" had the lesbian couple Stephanie and Kim. Turns out Kim was using this trope all along, breaking Stephanie's heart. And it turns out one of the persons they shocked, [[spoiler: Stephanie's father]] Rev. Putty, saw right though it as well and felt bad for Stephanie.
* Toyed with once on ''FamilyGuy'', when Meg pretends to be a lesbian in order to get some friends. A rare example of the deceptive one being the ButtMonkey.
* On ''AmericanDad,'' Hayley once dated an illegal immigrant just to tick off Stan. Stan winds up hiring her boyfriend for his factory, however, and Hayley, annoyed that he isn't spending any time with her anymore, calls immigration on him and his family.

* Phat and Vivisector from [[MarvelComics Marvel's]] ''X-Statix'' comic pretend to be gay to steal the media spotlight back from their teammates. Phat breaks with the ruse, and eventually [[spoiler:he and Vivisector conclude that they are both gay, but not attracted to each other.]]

* Miranda on ''SexAndTheCity'' pretends to date a Lesbian in an early episode to curry favour with the boss at her law firm. Fun fact, Cynthia Nixon who played Miranda have later come out as a late-in-life Lesbian.

*** It was more shocking that Samantha was in a RELATIONSHIP than a lesbian one. Her friends were shocked by they were waiting to have sex.
* Played with in ''BostonLegal'' - [[spoiler: it turned out that they were still seeing each other, and had ''faked the break-up'' and an ensuing court case to maintain the publicity.]]

** Averted by [[spoiler:Lane Pryce and the literal PlayboyBunny Toni; it's clear that despite him being white and her black, to say nothing of the [[MayDecemberRomance age element]], they actually have a legitimate relationship and aren't trying to shock anybody.]]
* Ja'maie King from SummerHeightsHigh does this ''twice'' over the course of an eight episode series: First by going out with a year 7 boy four years her junior, and again when she asks another girl to the year 11 Formal.
* In {{Degrassi}}, Claire invited Eli over for dinner with her parents just as a way of shocking them with his black clothes, hearse, and chain necklaces to get back at them for getting a divorce. Eli was completely humiliated that she used him like that.

* The ''MoralOrel'' episode "Closeface" had this happen to Stephanie and her high school love interest. Though not really for shock, mostly just because she thought it was really funny. Poor Stephanie.

* ''{{Shortpacked}}''. Poor, poor Leslie. Robin does eventually [[ThrowTheDogABone kiss her]], however. Eventually they become girlfriends for realz.

Most relationships are about mutual attraction- or at least a mutual ''[[SlapSlapKiss something]]''- but sometimes there's another motive at work: Someone's only in it for the attention. Maybe it's a teenage girl dating a punk to [[DatingWhatDaddyHates get a rise out of dad]], or a gay guy who's just not that into the other gay guy but really likes shoving it in everyone's faces. The person actually serious about the relationship might want to wait to kiss until nobody's looking, but the one out for shock value will only want to kiss when ''everybody's'' looking. HilarityEnsues- or [[RuleOfDrama Tragedy Ensues]], depending on how seriously this is played.

Most relationships are about mutual attraction- or at least a mutual ''[[SlapSlapKiss something]]''- but sometimes there's another motive at work: Someone's only in it for the attention. Maybe it's a teenage girl dating a punk to get a rise out of dad, or a gay guy who's just not that into the other gay guy but really likes shoving it in everyone's faces. The person actually serious about the relationship might want to wait to kiss until nobody's looking, but the one out for shock value will only want to kiss when ''everybody's'' looking. HilarityEnsues- or [[RuleOfDrama Tragedy Ensues]], depending on how seriously this is played.

Most relationships are about mutual attraction- or at least a mutual ''[[SlapSlapKiss something]]''- but sometimes there's another motive at work: Someone's only in it for the attention. Maybe it's a teenage girl dating a punk to get a rise out of dad, or a gay guy who's just not that into the other gay guy but really likes shoving it in everyone's faces. The person actually serious about the relationship might want to wait to kiss until nobody's looking, but the one out for shock vlaue will only want to kiss when ''everybody's'' looking. HilarityEnsues- or [[RuleOfDrama Tragedy Ensues]], depending on how seriously this is played.